My Authentic Pie

One of the memories I have of both my mom and my grandma was their ability to bake an awesome apple pie.  I have much to learn about baking pies, but frankly, baking is not my cup of tea, and I am certainly lacking in the patience department when it comes to food prep. 

Given that we had an abundance of apples on our trees this summer, and the fact that I came upon a pie plate in the cupboard which likely has never been used for a pie before, I thought I would have a go.  Chris is not much of a sweets person, so baking deserts typically means I will eat most of it, but what the heck, I was up for the baking challenge.
 

I surfed the net to find a good pastry recipe, and also a filling recipe that seemed easy enough for me to attempt.  I found a simple one that didn’t require any chilling before rolling out:

 2 1/2 c. Flour
1 c. Lard
1 Tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 egg in a measuring cup + cold water to bring to 1/2 c. 

Instructions for kneading the pastry was to put it in a pillow case, but I used a bag instead.  

 It was really simple and easy to roll out.  

 

Next came the filling.  I used about 8 apples - a mix of Braeburn, Pippin and Liberty and then squeezed the juice of a lemon all over them.   Next they were dusted with a little cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamon.  I recalled as a child this was the best part of the apple pie making process - mom always took a bit of the dusted apples out for me to eat. Yummy!

Overall, I was happy with the ease of putting the pie together and getting it ready for the oven.

But even more happy with the end result, as the pastry was melt in your mouth and the apple filling was not sweet at all.   It may not have looked all professional like, with fluted edges and what-not, but that's not my style.  And don't forget-  I haven't the patience for finishing touches. It's what's inside and the flavour that counts.

Chris had one slice and cooked up a serving of custard for on top of his piece.  The rest of the pie was left for me to eat.  I did – but with ice-cream; and over a few days.   There was a bit of pastry left, so Chris picked me a couple more apples and I threw together this little mini pie.  It's in the freezer so not sure how it will taste.

That's it for this year's baking.  Next year I may try a pie again - perhaps a berry pie.